Step 1: The tube...

Take a toilet paper tube and tape a weight (ie: 2 quarters) to one side. Partially flatten the other side so it does not easily roll (see picture).

Step 2: Set the trap...

Position your tube halfway extended over a table or counter top, someplace elevated the mice can get to. Set a small raisin in front of the tube. Set another small raisin at the overhanging end of the tube. If you use peanut butter you may only need a tiny bit in the tube. Place a trash can or deep bucket under the tube. Edit: you can place some padding in the bin, consider they may chew on it. While the fall is probably not pleasant it does not hurt the mice.

How it works: The mouse enjoys the first morsel outside the trap and goes for the second. When it goes in the tube, the tube will tip and fall into the trash can before the mouse can get back out. Once inside the bucket the mouse will jump so make sure it is tall enough.

Step 3: The catch!

Congratulations! Hopefully you will have demonstrated your superior intellect and caught a mouse. Now you get to exercise your capability for compassion and take care of your new pet or set it free somewhere else. As noted by another reader it may be a good idea to release them in an area with another potential food source.

OH MY........No kill? Cmon. PLEASE do your homework on this subject. YOU have no idea about what happens to this POOR little mouse when you "Place" it somewhere else? He usually DIES of starvation because YOU placed him somewhere where he CANNOT find food! Oh but that's OK He's NOT your problem anymore.

Rat poison is a bad idea. And here is why: The poison causes the rats to die of thirst. Some of the poisoned mice will die indoors. Others, as they start to suffer, often go outside looking for water. Do you know what predators do? They look for the weakest animals to catch and eat. A hawk, owl, or other predator swoops down and eats your mouse. You have now given a small dose of poison to a beautiful animal. Now, these poisons do not disappear from the bird, they accumulate. Even if the toxin levels of one mouse are not high enough to kill the bird, it can kill their offspring, whether through the egg production process, or in the event the bird feeds its young with the toxic mouse. But, it doesn't stop at one mouse. A hawk needs to eat a lot of mice. There is a term for this, Biological Magnification. As you go higher up the food chain, the toxin is concentrated in the tissues. I suggest you take the time to use non-toxic pest management solutions. The paper tube method here is excellent, easy, and cheap. You could also keep a pet mouse for a couple of days before releasing it. A field mouse is way cuter than those homely white mice you get at the pet store. At our house, we catch shrews, voles, and 3 species of mice.

Thanks for your informative post. I almost always agree that poison should never be used. I saw a short news piece showing a fancy boar poison bait trap designed to keep racoons and other wildlife out. I was being used in an area someplace in the Southern U.S. The report didn't say what poison was being used, or how it effected predators including human boar hunters. A friend who lives in Tennessee said there was a ballot measure to poison deer to reduce the deer population. He said the measure was defeated and the new plan is to issue more deer hunting permits. The poison might have reduced human, bear, wolf and other populations. Public water sanitation systems typically can't remove many poisons in rivers and lakes municipalities depend on for drinking water.

One of my cats brought a mouse in the house last night. I was able to catch it today with a gloved hand and released it outside. Now that I think of it, the mouse may have been injured too much to survive being played with and grabbed by the cat so I should have turned it over to my neighbor who manages a wildlife rescue center for it to be fed to a predatory bird, fox, or etc. being rehabilitated or an orphan predator learning how to hunt.

Its a shame you can't pet wild mice. They look so cuddly. If you want a mouse you can pet and stuff get one from pet shop. I would, but I can't. We have a cat, So I can't get birds or mice. Also, rats are very much hated but they make good pets if not wild. And rats attach a lot. they're good company, but dogs and cats are best for company. :)

Sure they may look cute, but i don't think you'd want to catch wild mice as pets >_> They could be contaminated with diseases that show no symptoms in mice, but could prove fatal for humans. Aside from the fact that they can be ridden with disease, taming them is also another problem. If they're born in the wild, they should stay in the wild. The sudden change of environment could kill the mouse, or we do not have the means of raising these mice. It's better just to release them farther away from your home, or to just kill it if its causing a problem.

@ dragonreaper: understood. We don't actually keep them as pets, per se, although we have kept them around for a day or so. Never had one die on us and we certainly don't handle them. But we do take them a loooonngg way form home before releasing them. Usually under the porch of one of our annoying neighbors.

I've done research and it is very rare unless they carry rabies, which is pretty much the only contagious disease they carry, which causes them to die soon anyway. I had a pet shrew that i rescued and it died of rabies shortly after being rescued. Signs of rabies in rodents include blood in mouth, malformed claws and paws, rotting skin and tail.

Medical researchers have investigated " Do mice get rabies?" In controlled laboratory studies, the mice died very quickly. They were even too sick & weak to attack. That is not to stay that technically they can't get rabies in nature. They could, but it is thought that they are so small and fragile that they will not survive the trauma of the rabid animal that is attacking them. We should be more concerned about the other diseases mice can carry such as Salmonella, Rat-bite Fever, Leptospirosis, Hanta Virus Pulmonary Syndrome. Wild mice can carry many fleas and ticks too. Check out this link if you would like more info: http://www.cdc.gov/rodents/diseases/direct.html

Actually it causes internal bleeding. The unsanitary and inhumane part is it will take them a while to die and then you have a dead mouse where you cant find it.

Have you ever tried to keep a wild mouse as a pet ? they are houdinis at the worst of times and can jump like they were fitted with springs, ordinary hampster cages will not do. The only thing that would hold the mouse i had was an 85 gallon fish tank covered with a window screen. And i got rid of it after a few days cause it stunk something fierce.

ok i dont agree with the animal rights protester bellow you (thats puting it very, very, very, very, very kindly) one rats a vermin a pest that don't as fr as i know help at all the world. maybe im thinging of rats. and yes owls and other birds eat them. but back on track. oh a animal that is disease ridden dies of thirst. yea the bird eating poisoned mice will make that happen but one poisened mouse isn't gonna do all that. all of those reasons don't mean squat to me.

however i do care that rats/mice/insects and other animal can quickly adapt to poison and we have to use stronger poisons and eventualy nothing will stop them. my advice kill them maualy or kepp them untill they die in a container sure i think it's inhumane but like the guy blow me said set it free

you know your name doesn't really suit you. hippies loved earth and everything that lived on it. no offence but your a hypocrite. i hope to god that a poor mouse doesn't venture into your house because it will be tortured to death by being starved or poisoned. it is just as easy to catch a mouse in a bucket and set it free whenever it is convenient for you, rather than wait days for it to slowly starve. have a heart.

Rats are different than mice and can be a different story entirely. Some rats need snap trapping and some need to be live trapped and let go. The shy ones should be live trapped and let go by a river or field and the aggressive ones snap trapped. I have only had one rat that I had to snap trap. Poison is never an option.

I dont know why I am astounded at the level of cruelty and selfishness society has in general. Instead of trapping a mouse in a safe and loving way,most people want to kill or torture it with those glue traps.It really doesnt take much and they need a place to live too.We have taken every conceivable space and encroached on all animals territory.Its just not right.Take a few muinutes,buy or make a live,safe trap and release the little guys into a field or forest.Somewhere where they can live. We should not place ourselves so much higher than any animal...because we do things that are so horrible to one another for fame,money,things and ego..animals only do to survive. Thats my two cents..thanks for the helpful traps..